Posted in Legislative Agenda on Feb 7th, 2008 No Comments »
Even as the House engaged in partisan bickering of the kind that makes you wonder whether they will get anything done this session, the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition called for passage of Senate Bill 1 without either amendment or further ado.
And that, Deputy House Speaker Josh Shapiro (D-Montgomery) told the news service, Capitolwire, in […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda, Open Records News on Jan 30th, 2008 1 Comment »
Here’s the body of a press release just issued by the PNA. I have removed contact information to help avoid spamming, but the if you’d like to download the release, click here.
PNA Urges Passage of Senate Bill 1
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 30, 2008 — The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association urges the Legislature to […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Nov 21st, 2007 No Comments »
The bad news is that the Legislature left for Thanksgiving before overhauling HB 443.
The good news is that it looks like “both parties are abandoning a previous open records proposal (HB 443) that was criticized by good-government groups because it contained broad exceptions,” according to the Herald-Standard.
So what’s going on? There’s […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Nov 20th, 2007 No Comments »
From the Uniontown Herald-Standard: Rep. Bill DeWeese announced in an impromptu press conference last night that the House will vote on HB 443 today, but does not expect a final vote to take place until next month. “They (Republicans) will not be able to caterwaul about a rush to judgment,” he said. “We […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Nov 19th, 2007 No Comments »
That’s a quote from House Speaker Denny O’Brien, from John Baer’s column in the Philadelphia Daily News today. Baer says the Legislature should “pass an open-records law to show some accountability.”
The House isn’t in this week, but the Senate is, and word on the street is that they’re going to vote […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Oct 11th, 2007 No Comments »
We are holding a press conference on Monday in the State Capitol Rotunda to call for action on open records legislation. If you’re in town, please join us!
Text of October 10 media advisory.
Advocates, citizens and lawmakers will push for a stronger state Right To Know Law as debate on open records legislation is possible […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Oct 4th, 2007 1 Comment »
Jamie sat down with Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, sponsor of Senate Bill 1, and Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, a freshman lawmaker who is sponsoring House Bill 443. Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Allegheny, who also has sponsored open records legislation, Senate Bill 765, is expected to provide an interview in the near future.
Blaine asked […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda, Open Records on Sep 26th, 2007 No Comments »
Kind of has a ring to it, doesn’t it? That’s what Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, called open records reform in his speech to the PA Press Club yesterday. The full text of his speech is available at Capitolwire.com, which is a subscriber service, but you can sign up for a free trial subscription here. […]
Posted in Citizen Stories, Legislative Agenda, Open Records, passopenrecords.org news on Aug 21st, 2007 3 Comments »
To illustrate the problems Pennsylvania’s journalists and citizens face in obtaining public records, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, together with this blog, is holding the first-ever PA Open Records Challenge.
The competition begins in mid-August. Participants will be asked to attempt to obtain a document, such as a school superintendent’s contract or the amount […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda, Open Records on Aug 8th, 2007 No Comments »
Jamie just blogged on the hearing, but I wanted to let you know that we’ve posted the written testimony provided by Teri Henning, Carl Lavin, and Bob Heisse.